Book Review -GENIUS: THE GAME by Leopoldo Gout

Tunde – a 14 year old Nigerian engineer who up-cycles garbage into technology for his Nigerian village

These teens are online friends who get the opportunity to meet IRL (in real life) for the first time when they’re invited to a competition hosted by the world’s top tech visionary, Kiran Biswas. Winners will receive spots on Kiran’s team doing cutting-edge tech development. Um…yes, I’ll read that arc, please!

To win the competition, Rex, Cai and Tunde will need to outsmart the top two hundred teen minds in the world. They have to do this while each of them simultaneously faces a threat to himself/herself or their family. I was particularly drawn in by the plight of Tunde, who has never been far from his small village, let alone to Boston, where the competition is being held. His family is held captive by a Nigerian military warlord. His parents and his entire village will be wiped-out unless Tunde both wins the contest and develops a new, powerful weapon and delivers it to the warlord, forcing him to choose between saving his family and helping a vicious killer.

Genius: The Game is tightly written and, of course, has tons of cool technology. Readers who love games, tech, and conspiracies will love it! Release date: May 3.